- #1
Robert Friz
- 36
- 9
Stephen Hawking theorized the creation of virtual particle pairs at the event horizon of a black hole, with one of the particles escaping the event horizon (Hawking Radiation) and the other particle falling into the black hole.
Sean Carroll states on page 272 of From Eternity to Here that "if the real particle that escapes the black hole has positive energy, and the total energy of the original virtual pair was zero, that means the partner that fell into the black hole must have negative energy. When it falls in, the total mass of the black hole goes down." Mr. Carroll (whose work I highly respect) goes on in the following paragraph to conclude that, based on this theory, the resulting loss of mass from the black hole will eventually result in it evaporating entirely.
However, I believe that it is equally likely that the virtual particle that falls into the black hole will be a positive energy virtual particle and the negative energy virtual particle will escape the event horizon. If that is true, then the net result of many instances of one of two virtual particles falling into the black hole will be zero change to the mass of the black hole.
Theoretically what is going on here? Whose thinking is faulty? My thoughts (most likely)? Sean Carroll's writing (unlikely)? Stephen Hawking's research (highly unlikely)?
Diagrams of this phenomenon usually picture only the anti-photon falling into the black hole, as pictured in the researchgate.net diagram below:
https://www.physicsforums.com/file:///C:/Users/Bob%20HP%20Laptop/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg
Sean Carroll states on page 272 of From Eternity to Here that "if the real particle that escapes the black hole has positive energy, and the total energy of the original virtual pair was zero, that means the partner that fell into the black hole must have negative energy. When it falls in, the total mass of the black hole goes down." Mr. Carroll (whose work I highly respect) goes on in the following paragraph to conclude that, based on this theory, the resulting loss of mass from the black hole will eventually result in it evaporating entirely.
However, I believe that it is equally likely that the virtual particle that falls into the black hole will be a positive energy virtual particle and the negative energy virtual particle will escape the event horizon. If that is true, then the net result of many instances of one of two virtual particles falling into the black hole will be zero change to the mass of the black hole.
Theoretically what is going on here? Whose thinking is faulty? My thoughts (most likely)? Sean Carroll's writing (unlikely)? Stephen Hawking's research (highly unlikely)?
Diagrams of this phenomenon usually picture only the anti-photon falling into the black hole, as pictured in the researchgate.net diagram below: